Men's basketball scores first conference win of the season

The FIU men's basketball team upped its record to 10-12 and snapped its seven-game losing streak with a 119-114 win over the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans on Jan. 30. Going into the game, FIU was the last remaining team without a win in the Sun Belt Conference, but the Trojans seemed as likely a candidate as any for the University's first win since they were mired in a two-game slump.

The Pharmed Arena game was quite a thriller, lasting five overtimes and ending with a combined 233 points scored, 119 of which belonged to the Golden Panthers. Ismael N'Diaye scored a team-high 34 points, the second most ever by an FIU player (current Detroit Piston Carlos Arroyo holds the record with 39 points scored in 2000 against North Texas).

Golden Panther Ivan Almonte turned in 24 points and Junior Matias turned in an additional 20. The game's five overtimes was just two shy of the NCAA record that was set in 1981. It was the longest in FIU basketball history in both overtimes and time, lasting a total of three hours and 41 minutes.

The team's next game is against Middle Tennessee on Feb. 5. Its next home game is on Feb. 14 against Arkansas State.